Roll your own. ????

O.K.. so I buy two AR receivers. Then the internal spring set, hammer, trigger, all internals, etc.
Now I need the piston thing, rear stock whatever.
In totaling up these $$$. I really think buying a completed lower would have been cheaper and easier.
Are you guys really saving money building your own? Or is it more for the fun of building it?
Unless I am doing something wrong. I really dont see any money savings?

"Man needs but two things to survive alone in the woods. A blow up female doll and his trusty old AK-47" - Thomas Jefferson 1781

In Oregon, I picked up a stripped RRA lower ($120), DPMS lower parts kit ($55), buffer tube, buffer and spring ($45), and magpul moe stock set ($65). Thats a total of $285. The assembled lowers I saw on the walls of the stores and shops i visited while bargain hunting were averaging $300-$400. So its not a huge savings, but I personally like that I know where every stupid dissapearing piece and "shoot across the room for no reason" spring and pin is, and how it got there. I had to buy a case of beer for my buddy, who found one of those little brass brads that go in the pivot pins, after it decided it didnt like its position in the universe, and made the choice to make a random E&E from the receiver, to someplace on the carpet 20+ feet away.

Not much of a savings to build up your own lower especially when you look around to find best price on complete lowers. Only advantage is if you want specific parts from specific manufacturers you can get what you want the first time without having to replace parts (e.g. PG, stocks, FCG, etc). Some places offer options in a complete lower that you can pick and choose component manufacturers to some extent.

if you shop for the cheapest junk available you can save a few bucks, but right now the market is awash with good quality parts that are on sale. RR has complete lowers on sale , I can supply them for under $275.00

since the market is flooded with built lowers and stripped lowers you not going to save much.

best price i know of for a built lower is about $200 from DSA.

if you build on of their $60 blem lowers $50 for the LPK , $55 for the stock then you got shipping . your looking at $165+ shipping. if you use a regular lower well no savings at all.

back a couple years though it was another story --you could save quite a bit on a AR build. but AR-15 prices for a rifle have dropped considerable which has put the squeeze on any savings you could get from a roll your own deal.

least if you build your own--you will know how the thing works.

you would be shocked how many ninjas have no idea how the thing operates--LOL!

i bought a bunch of Aero Precision receivers for $60 from dans ammo. lpk for $60 from scott at dparms. yea, the extensions and stocks add up. i tried the DSA tubes, but they were .....like swollen in the middle of the tubes. the stocks would get hung up in the middle trying to collapse them or extend them. so, i spent some bucks and replaced them with VLTOR extensions.

"It does not take a majority to prevail ... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men." --Samuel Adams

What killed the build it your self thing was when BBL's went from $75.00 to $135.00+S/H and Complete bolt & carries went from $65.00 to $125.00 You used to be able to find stock sets & fore arm's for $60.00 barely used but that was 2 or 3 years ago before the O-bomb. Back then I think could build an AR for $485.00 or there abouts. If your using all
new parts its not worth the time and trouble anymore to build your own, It just cost to much.

"The two enemies of the people are criminals and goverment, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so that the second will not become the legal version of the first" ~ Thomas Jefferson

What killed the build it your self thing was when BBL's went from $75.00 to $135.00+S/H and Complete bolt & carries went from $65.00 to $125.00 You used to be able to find stock sets & fore arm's for $60.00 barely used but that was 2 or 3 years ago before the O-bomb. Back then I think could build an AR for $485.00 or there abouts. If your using all
new parts its not worth the time and trouble anymore to build your own, It just cost to much.

thats true- the expensive barrels and bolt carriers sort of beat you up when you roll your own. parts are headed back down--but they come down much slower than they went up! kind of like ammo.

i can still assemble a pretty decent AR-15 from time to time for about $485-$500 but--i got to really shop around hard and catch some things on sale. and i have to use what i find inexpensively. which might be a 20" rifle with a 4 position stock!--LOL!

wasn't that long ago you could get a blackthorne/hess ar-15 kit for some thing like $269 all but the lower--so a sub $400 build was possible then.

for name brand matched components your still looking at around $600+ and more if your into the fancy stuff.

and you can buy a pretty good ar-15 for $600-$700 these days.

hell buds sells the very decent double star 15 for $669 i think --everyday price. you see a lot of DPMS & del-ton in this price range as well.

and CDNN has those excellent s&w carbines for what was it?? $599 or was it $699 ICRC--LOL? but anyway very reasonable for the price. but they are a special limited time sale deal.

yea building is really more of getting what you want and doing it your way type of thing than a money saver.

but you can like buy one part today, another next month--and so on. sort of like a poor mans lay-away. hell that is what i do!-LOL!